Permian Basin receives $58 million in transportation funding

Published 3:36 pm, Monday, July 29, 2013

Traffic on Big Spring at dusk Tuesday, May 14, 2013. James Durbin/Reporter-Telegram

Traffic on Big Spring at dusk Tuesday, May 14, 2013. James Durbin/Reporter-Telegram

Photo: JAMES DURBIN

Permian Basin receives $58 million in transportation funding

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The Permian Basin has received $58 million from an allocation made Thursday by the Texas Transportation Commission. The funds were part of the $225 million fund legislators approved for roads in oil industry-intensive areas.

The funding will be used for projects that the commission approved. In the Texas Department of Transportation Odessa District, which includes Midland, the three projects that will be funded are for State Highway 158, Farm-to-Market 307 and State Highway 349.

All three projects involve rehabilitating the roadways; FM 307 will will be widened to four lanes. The projects are all set to be complete by the first quarter of 2014, said Robin Donnelly, Precinct 2 county commissioner, at a Monday afternoon press conference.

The funds came about as a result of lobbying efforts by County Judge Mike Bradford and Donnelly, who is also a board member of the Midland Odessa Transportation Organization.

“What made the testimony very effective is that James Beauchamp from MOTRAN (Midland Odessa Transportation Alliance) compiled all this data,” Bradford said. “So when we got to testify, their hard work was something you couldn’t argue.”

Beauchamp compiled more data after the funds were approved and discovered that the Permian Basin only received 23.39 percent of the $225 million that was distributed to energy-impacted areas. The Eagle Ford Shale received the most, taking $182.3 million, or 73.21 percent of the total funds.

“The Permian Basin by and large produces the lion’s share of energy in this state,” Beauchamp said. “And we have far more population than the Eagle Ford Shale does.”

Beauchamp explained that TxDOT built more roadways in the Eagle Ford Shale, which gives them more lane miles than in the Permian Basin. And funding distribution has been based on road rehabilitation and maintenance factors, such as lane miles, Beauchamp said. Bradford said that while one road in West Texas could have multiple oil wells off it, there may be only one well off one road in South Texas.

“At the end of the day, we still think it (funding for the Permian Basin) should be more and we’re going to work with that man (Bradford) to make sure we do get more,” Beauchamp said.